Who was the greatest, The Beatles or Stones?

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The debate about who was the greatest band, The Beatles or the Rolling Stones, has been going on for a half-century. (The answer is revealed at the end of this story.)

A pair of tribute bands - Abbey Road and Jumping Jack Flash - will air their differences Friday and Saturday from amplifiers upon the South Shore Room stage at Harrah's Lake Tahoe. The show will consist of five sets before both bands perform together in an encore performance.

The pseudo superstars talked trash before the show.

"We got our Sgt. Pepper jackets made a little long so the Stones would have no problem riding our coattails," taunted Abbey Road's Ringo, Axel Clarke.

Keith Richards, aka, Young Hutchison, retorted: "The Stones rocked the stage, and worked as hard as the bluesmen they modeled their stage show after, generating the smoldering sexuality that came to be a hallmark of great rock 'n' roll acts. The Beatles? Well, they were cute! The Stones were the original punks, outsiders at best. Beatles took tea with the bloody Queen - how rock 'n' roll is that?"

While the Stones turned 50 years old this month, The Beatles heyday lasted less than a decade, however, Abbey Road will change wardrobes and pay homage to three eras of the Fab Four.

The Beatles were formed in Liverpool in 1960 and the Stones from the suburbs of London two years later. The bands never played on the same bill, but in 1963 Lennon and McCartney penned and gave the song "I Wanna Be Your Man" to the Stones, and it became the group's most successful hit at that stage of their career. According to an interview with Lennon in Rolling Stone magazine, Jagger and Richards were so amazed by how quickly Lennon and McCartney wrote the song, they decided to become a songwriting duo as well.

When the Beatles appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show" in early 1964, conservative America was shocked by their hair, which didn't cover their ears but still was considered long. Several months later, the Stones came on the show and further stunned the nation - Mick Jagger didn't even wear a tie.

While the Stones were rockers, the Beatles played more of a pop style. The Beatles were optimists and balladeers. The Stones were more dark about contemporary events, and they were sexually suggestive. "All You Need Is Love," was a Beatles tune. The Stones answered with "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

The rivalry became more open just before Lennon left the Beatles, whose band members were spending time with the Maharishi guru smoking marijuana and seeking peace. Meanwhile, most of the Stones were busted for more serious drugs and Richards wrote "Sympathy for the Devil."

The Beatles are the only band listed in the dictionary with a capital "T." Therefore, The Beatles are not only greater than the Stones, they are the greatest band of all time. You can look it up.)